As the International Space Station celebrates its 6-month anniversary, flight
controllers in Houston and Moscow ready both the station and shuttle Discovery for the
first visit to the outpost of the year scheduled to begin with launch of Discovery in the
early morning of May 27th.

With repairs complete on the orbiter's hail-damaged external fuel tank, the shuttle was
recently moved back to the launch pad for the final week of processing leading to its
launch (scheduled for 6:48 a.m. Eastern time on Thursday). Discovery will carry
logistics and supplies that eventually will be used by the first crew to live on the ISS.

Preparations for Discovery's arrival call for the flight controllers to uplink commands
that will turn on heaters strategically placed around the station to slowly warm the
interior volume prior to docking and the crew climbing on board to begin transfer
operations.

Meanwhile, as Discovery was slowly rolled back to the launch pad, half way around the
world in Kazakhstan the Service Module has arrived by train for the final months of its
processing for launch atop a Proton booster - like the rocket that launched the Zarya
control module six months ago. The Service Module will complete its testing at the
Baikonur Cosmodrome launch site in the same checkout area as Zarya prior to being loaded
in the Proton for launch scheduled this fall. The module will provide the living quarters
for the first crew scheduled to arrive on a Soyuz rocket early next year.

The International Space Station is in an orbit with a high point of 251 statute miles
and a low point of 237 statute miles, circling the Earth once approximately every
92 minutes. The station has completed more than 2,826 orbits of Earth since its
launch. As it passes overhead at dawn or dusk, the station is easily visible from the
ground, and it will become even brighter once Discovery has docked. Space Station viewing
opportunities for locations worldwide are available on the web at http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/

G3CWV reports that during the one-month period from April 15 to May 15, 1999
- reliable signals have been received from the 145.826 MHz beacon. Received telemetry
indicates that battery voltage during daylight passes has continued to decrease with an
average value of around 13.5 volts. Internal temperatures have continued to fall by
about two degrees Celsius during the period, due to the increasing eclipse times. Internal
temperatures are reported as 2.4C and 0.6C for battery and telemetry electronics
respectively.

In the last month the magnetorquer spin correction counters have started to show some
activity. The negative spin counter started to increment at three counts per day where
previously it was incrementing at about one count every three days. Clive reports that at
the beginning of April there was a period when the Z-axis counter reached 1024, causing
the attitude control to stop. During this time the spin rate remained fairly constant,
indicating that no corrections were needed. The Z-axis counter continues to increment
normally at around 10 counts per day.

The whole orbit data (WOD) survey transmitted by OSCAR-11 shows that during periods of
sunlight the main bus voltage can be seen rising and also being modulated by the
spacecraft spin. The shape of this modulation factor suggests that one photo cell panel
may be generating a smaller output than the others. Battery charge regulator (BCR) status
shows that the switch between A and B power units occurs when the satellite enters or
exits from the eclipse state. Channel 39 (telemetry electronics) shows a very small
change in temperature of the telemetry electronics unit as the satellite passes through
the earth's shadow.

The ASCII bulletin is currently a static message, detailing modes and frequencies of
many of the active amateur radio satellites.

Listeners to OSCAR-11 may be interested in visiting the G3CWV web site. The web site
contains details of hardware required and some software for capturing OSCAR-11 data, such
as decoding ASCII telemetry and WOD. There is an archive of raw data (mainly WOD) for
analysis, which is continually expanded as new data is captured. Also included are some
audio files that are examples of each type of data transmitted by the satellite.

The May/June AMSAT Journal will feature a complete copy of the Dayton Hamvention
Phase 3-D launch release by DJ4ZC. ANS reminds amateurs that an AMSAT-NA membership
includes the AMSAT Journal. The May/June issue will be in the mail shortly.-ANS

Astronomers monitoring Mars with the Hubble Space Telescope have detected a giant storm
in the northern hemisphere of the planet. The hurricane-like spiral is complete with a
central eye and was seen on two pictures taken by a team of astronomers at Cornell
University. The images were taken using Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2.-Sky & Telescope

Hank, N4AFL, reports the StenSat picosatellite was recently delivered. StenSat is a
small (12 cubic inch, 8.2 ounce) satellite, which is intended to operate as a
single channel mode-J FM voice repeater. StenSat will also periodically transmit
1200 baud AX.25 telemetry. Projected launch date is September 15, 1999. N4AFL
tells ANS that if StenSat survives final system integration and final testing, and if
Stanford is granted access to the launch platform, the team hopes to build a
revision 2 StenSat between now and September.-Hank, N4AFL

A new 144 MHz North American DX record for high speed CW meteor scatter was
recently set with a contact from Kansas to New Jersey by N0KQY and K2TXB. The distance
covered is 1,430 miles.-Russ, K2TXB

A Chinese Long March 4B rocket successfully launched two civilian satellites recently.
The rocket lifted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in North China's Shanxi
Province carrying the Fengyun 1C weather satellite and Shijian 5 research craft.
It was the first Chinese launch of 1999.-Florida Today

After years of planning and months of testing, anyone can now help look for aliens! The
final versions of the SETI@home software was was recently released. Conceived in
July 1996 to deal with the lack of computing power to fully sift through the radio
data now being acquired by major programs, the concept is to put the idling of thousands
of home computers to good use. Volunteers can now download a background program that
fetches data, processes it, and returns it to the central server. All this is performed by
a screen saver program that activates when the computer is idle for several minutes.-Sky & Telescope

The Canadian Space Agency's first contribution to the International Space Station, the
56-foot-long Space Station Remote Manipulator System, has begun its campaign toward
launch. SSRMS is in three segments which when fully assembled is comprised of two booms,
each with two 12-foot sections joined by a hinge. The SSRMS will be the primary means of
transferring payloads between the orbiter payload bay and the station for assembly.-NASA

Some doorstep astronomy from ANS: Venus is the bright light shining in the
west-northwest after dusk. The two stars above it are Pollux and Castor. Pollux is the
brighter one, on the left. ANS invites you to watch them shift position with respect to
Venus during the week.-Sky & Telescope

Scott, WA6LIE, has a set of instructions on how to work the Mir space station. Copies
of the instructions are available from Scott by e-mail at wa6lie@juno.com,
or by packet at wa6lie@wa6lie.#wcca.ca.usa.noam.

[ANS thanks Scott Avery, WA6LIE, and the MIREX team for Mir status information]

Tony, AB2CJ, reports the RS-13 robot is operational as he recently completed a
successful robot contact using the 145/29 MHz combination. Tony says the robot will
respond with a QSO number for a QSL, "repeating the number twice, so if you miss it
the first time you get a second chance."

Jon, N0JK, is planning to be active on RS-13 from HC8/Galapagos Islands, before and
after the CQ WPX CW contest. Look for N0JK between May 27 - June 1. RS-15 and
AO-10 may be other possibilities. Jon will post updated times and just what satellites he
will be using -- both to ANS and the AMSAT-BB.

Kevin, AC5DK, has information about RS-12/13 that contains a simple explanation on how
to operate on the satellite, including a forum for operators to exchange information, pose
questions or even set up skeds via RS-12/13.

Dave, WB6LLO, has operating information for both RS-15 and RS-13 on his personal web
site. In addition to satellite data, antenna information and AMSAT-NA Jewelry Contest
information is also featured. The WB6LLO web site URL is http://home.san.rr.com/doguimont/uploads

Peter, KD7MW, -- who has been experimenting with PSK31 -- recently tried a very
different mode: Hellschreiber. The most simple form, called Feld-Hell, uses on-off keying
to draw dot patterns of letters on the screen. It's sort of like a dot matrix printer or a
stock ticker. If anyone is interested in an AO-10 contact using either Hellschreiber or
PSK31, please e-mail Peter at KD7MW@amsat.org.

Masa, JN1GKZ, reports his web page shows the current AO-10 spin period and spin rate
(by measuring the beacon with FFTDSP software). The JN1GKZ web site can be found at the
following URL: http://www.din.or.jp/~m-arai/ao10/beacone.htm

Stacey Mills, W4SM, has more information about the satellite at the following URL:

AMSAT-UK VHF Net regular Malcom, G7NFO, reported a recent QRP experiment with John,
G7TZZ. Malcom ran 2-watts and John progressively reduced his power to 500mW (and was still
Q-5) using FO-20.

Bruce, KK5DO, has posted pictures of JARL Headquarters and the FO-20/29 Command Station
on his web site. They were taken during a recent visit. Visit the site using the following
URL: http://www.amsatnet.com/jarl.html

During the period 15-April to 15-May reliable signals have been received from the
145.826 MHz beacon. The battery voltage during daylight passes has continued to
decrease. The internal temperatures have continued to fall, by about two degrees C
during this period, due to the increasing eclipse times.

The magnetorquer spin correction counters have now started to show some activity.
During the last month the negative spin counter has started to increment at about three
counts per day - previously it was incrementing at about one count every three days.

Mode-S beacon reception has been reported Victor, OK1VKW, using a 40 element
horizontal Yagi and a transverter into his receiver. Signals were S-2/3. The mode-S beacon
is transmitting an unmodulated carrier.

AO-16 passed a milestone recently when its kernel uptime reached 1,700 days on
15-May-99. This means the satellite has not required a software reload, on-board computer
reboot nor has it experienced a single interruption in service in over 1,700 consecutive
days.

ProcMail V2.00G has been released by G7UPN. This software permits the processing of
image files from TO-31. ProcMail V2.00G is available for downloading on KO-23 and KO-25.
It also has been posted to the AMSAT-NA FTP site at the following URL:

Downlink frequency not established.
The satellite is not currently available for uplink transmissions.

PANSAT, developed by the Naval Postgraduate School, was launched from the shuttle
Discovery. PANSAT spread-spectrum digital transponders will be available to amateur radio
operators in the near future along with software to utilize this technology. The PO-34
command station is located in Monterey, California.

Dan Sakoda, KD6DRA, PANSAT Project Manager recommends 'The ARRL Spread Spectrum
Sourcebook' as a good place to start in understanding the spread-spectrum scheme.

Hans, ZS5AKV, reports that SunSat is still in the initial test stages and the command
team will provide more information as it becomes available. General amateur radio service
is planned for the near future.

SunSat was launched February 23, 1999 aboard a Delta II rocket from
Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. SunSat stands for Stellenbosch University
Satellite and takes it name from the South African university whose students constructed
the payload.

The SunSat package includes 1200 and 9600 baud digital store-and-forward
capability and a voice 'parrot' repeater system that will be used primarily for
educational demonstrations. The satellite has two VHF and two UHF transmit-receive
systems.

The satellite is not currently available for general uplink transmissions.

UO-36 has been transmitting 9600-baud FSK telemetry framed in a VLSI format using a
downlink frequency of 437.400 MHz. Peter, DB2OS, reports UO-36 is also transmitting
on 437.025 MHz at 38,400 (38k4) baud at certain times over Europe.

UoSAT-12 was successfully launched on April 21, 1999 from the Russian Baikonur
Cosmodrome. UO-36 carries a number of imaging payloads, digital store-and-forward
communications and mode L/S transponders.

Mineo, JE9PEL, reports decoding two KISS data files sent by UO-36. Peter, DB2OS,
reports he "was able to grab a couple of thumbnails and a few hi-res images over the
last week at 38k4." Peter says the 70-cm downlink is "pretty strong." Colin
Hurst, VK5HI, is currently modifying his CCD Display software to also support the UO-36
format. Images from the satellite are on the web - point your browser to the following
URLs for UO-36 images: